


Broomsticks and Triangles

by orphan_account



Category: Never Satisfied (Webcomic)
Genre: Other, Other than that it's just indulgent fluff about Tetsu and BG being anarchists in love, There's some mentions of pot so if you aren't cool with that, You might want to skip over this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 11:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20795954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Two strangers meet in a bakery and, as they say, the rest is history.





	Broomsticks and Triangles

Perhaps shelving the latest shipment of novels by hand instead of using magic to gently coax them into their assigned places one by painstaking one had been a mistake on their part, but if there’s one thing Tetsu wasn’t, it was wasteful.

Still, though, it may have saved them the ache they were surely about to experience from hitting the ground after taking a tumble off of their step stool, the unsteady instrument wobbling beneath them and collapsing before they had had the time to register what was happening and, moreover, to really do anything about it.

They winced as the crashing of the step stool sounded, a jarring bang that was both impossibly loud and annoyingly resonant in the small room, and they sucked in a breath just as the clattering of an armful of yet-unshelved books slammed abruptly against the hardwood flooring. They braced for the inevitable collision, curling tightly in on themselves, but surprisingly there was an acute lack of soreness on their end, no scrape or thump or smack of their body to send painful vibrations coursing through their muscles. In fact, there seemed to have been no impact at all, prevented by a pair of strong, sturdy arms that had wrapped around the length of their torso sometime during their fall.

A single eye popped open, assessing the damage.

The stranger who had caught them was tall, a tad built compared to their wiry frame, with freckled skin and masses of shaggy blonde hair that reminded Tetsu vaguely of bundles of straw or freshly-bound bales of hay. Without uttering a word, she set them back on their feet, balancing them with a steadfast hand on their shoulder, before leaning down to begin picking up the novels that had scattered every which way in their spectacular yet wholly unnecessary nosedive. Tetsu quickly straightened their glasses, bending over to assist her.

“Hey, uh, thanks for that. I didn’t really want to have to deal with a sore arm for the rest of the day.”

“S’not a problem.” It was a slow drawl, but charming nonetheless.

Curiosity got the better of them as they stole a quick glance at the stranger, oddly disappointed to find that her hair was covering her eyes. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new to the area?”

“I’ve been around, jus’ not in here before, but I’m glad I finally got the chance t’ stop by.”

They absorbed that piece of information with a cat-like blink. “Ah.”

Well, so much for concrete answers, but they weren’t upset as much as they were strangely fascinated by her neutral demeanor, the calm way she spoke, moved, handled herself in their presence.

They picked up the few remaining books in silence before standing again. The stranger brushed off her overalls nonchalantly, stacking her share of the novels on the counter behind her. Tetsu followed suit.

“I’m Tetsu by the way.”

“Hm.”

“Don’t you have a name?”

“Oh, I got one alright.”

Without expanding further on what this name may be and why she wasn’t introducing herself with it, she reached out a hand in greeting, a grin forming on her face. Tetsu shook it firmly, smiling.

Yes, perhaps it had been a good thing that she’d finally decided to visit the bakery.

-

They hadn’t noticed the pig in their first encounter with the stranger.

Specifically, the animal seemed to be a boar, a bit on the smaller side of their species if truth be told, but no less impressive than their larger, undomesticated counterparts with their pair of ever-so-slightly curled tusks jutting out of their closed mouth and their thick coat of fur, delightfully bushy in consistency and sporting the same hue as their owner. Tetsu wanted to reach out and touch it, feel the luxurious brush of hair beneath their hands, but knew that some familiars and magicians alike scorned the very idea of being treated as some common household pet no better than the ones that were oftentimes kept by non-magicians, so they refrained, fingers twitching as they retracted.

At least they knew she was a magician now, so that was a victory, no matter how trivial of one.

“Is that your familiar?”

The girl raised her head from the display of cat-themed cupcakes she was currently studying.

“Yep, his name’s Ferb. What’s your lil’ critter’s name?”

Right on cue, the tell-tale jingle of coins clinking as Merlin returned change to a paying customer filled the air.

“Oh, that’s Merlin. He’s a marmoset.”

“Mm, he’s cute.” She reached over and scritched the underside of Merlin’s chin, causing the marmoset to make an ecstatic squeak before shuffling closer to the girl, his way of indicating that yes, please, I would like you to continue doing that. Tetsu stifled a snicker. While their familiar wasn’t much of one to put his thoughts or feelings into words, he definitely made his desires clear by other means.

Something pushed into Tetsu’s legs, a light pressure at most, and they peered down to see Ferb standing there silently as if waiting for them to react, to see what he was doing. With a snuffle, the boar swung his head against Tetsu again, being mindful not to jab them with his tusks in the process.

“Ferb’s not much of a talker either, but he’s one for pettin’.”

The pig snorted again in apparent agreement.

“Good to know.” Tetsu remarked, already running a hand through the boar’s hair which was just as plush as they imagined it would be. It was warm, and soft, and pleasant to touch, and really, what more could they ask for? Ferb appeared satisfied, too, grunting quietly as Tetsu continued to stroke his back.

“He’s taken quite a likin’ to you.”

Their eyes flicked over to Merlin whose tail was thumping about a million miles an hour at the girl’s touch.

“I’d say Merlin feels the same way.”

The less-than-strange stranger grinned. “I’m happy t’ hear it. And Tetsu?”

“Mm?”

She fished around in her pocket before handing them some money. “I’d sure like one of those cat cupcakes if you could spare it.”

-

“…and the high yeast content of this dough ensures that the finished product has pockets of air in it which helps it to…”

With a rather sideways smile, she watched on in silence as Tetsu continued to pace around the length of the room, their fingers drumming contentedly against the perfectly golden, particularly crusty exterior of the loaf of bread cradled within their grasp a bit like how a newborn infant would be held. It made sense, Tetsu loved their bread like it was a child, took great pride in it and in their craft, and it was nice to see that sort of passion vocalized and brought to life in such a way.

The noise of drumming fingers easily found its rhythm and its company with the seemingly unrelenting tap-tap-tapping of rain hitting the window of the bakery, and with that, a gentle cacophony of sound was born, one that lulled Broom Girl into a state of immense peace and slight sleepiness. She stretched, propping her broom against the side of a wall, and flopped back down into her chair.

There was a short pause in the sustained flow of words being spilled from Tetsu’s mouth, and Broom Girl let out a low laugh as they stood quite still, forcibly pushed their feet together, and closed their eyes with a squint and a happy sigh, a stance they only really seemed to take when they were very pleased with the situation at hand, appeased with what life was offering.

“Isn’t that something? Just listen to that crackle!”

“Mhm, sure is.”

-

To her right, she heard Tetsu shift their weight, and was suddenly greeted by a pair of deep violet eyes staring intensely at her face. Their hands unclasped.

“Are we dating?”

She paused, mulling it over. “Depends. D’you _want_ us to be datin’?”

“I think I’d like that, yes.”

“I think I’d like that, too.”

“Then I guess it’s decided.”

Broom Girl merely hummed in response, relishing the quiet moment between them. After a beat, their hand carefully nudged against hers as if asking for permission, and she took it without any ounce of hesitation, their fingers entwining once more.

“Tets?”

“Yes?”

“Can you pass me a brownie?”

“I ate them.”

“…All of ‘em?”

“Yeah?”

“Y’know, you’re only supposed to eat _one_.”

“Oh.”

“Mm.”

-

The bell affixed to the bakery’s front door jangled merrily, announcing the arrival of either a customer or BG returning from that afternoon’s round of the competition. Luckily, it appeared to be the latter.

Tetsu sat down the book they were reading with a smile. “How did the—”

“I’m a wanted fugitive now.”

They blinked once, then twice, before meeting their girlfriend’s gaze, lips curled into a smirk.

“I’m so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Tets, but we got a lot of work ahead.”

They adjusted their glasses up higher on the rim of their nose, the lenses glinting. “Excellent.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tanzanite is...blue? Purple? A combination of blue and purple? We just can't say for certain.
> 
> It's been a hot minute since I've written anything (as we can probably tell), but the fact that there's no content whatsoever of Tetsu and Broom Girl on this website was a crying shame that I felt I needed to try to remedy as quickly as possible (actually, the fact that there isn't much content at all for any of these marvelous characters is a crying shame, but whether I decide to do something about that aside from this little one-shot is ???).
> 
> Also, I should mention that a few of the scenarios shown here (specifically the brownie bit and the bread bit) are pulled straight from art that already existed of these two that I thought would be sort of fun to expand on a bit and incorporate into this story, so there you go.


End file.
